Very Collected Poems

Over sixty years of poems celebrating one of the most dynamic careers in twentieth and twenty-first century American poetry.

Gathering a lifetime of poetry, Ron Padgett's Very Collected Poems is the ultimate record of the Pulitzer Prize finalist's oeuvre--newly updated since the sold-out first edition of 2013. Padgett's poems reverberate with his love of poetry, his musings on artists and musicians from Andrew Marvell to Woody Guthrie to his personal friendships with Kenneth Koch and Joe Brainard, alongside his poems involving family and the magic of just being alive. By turns imaginative and witty, and then simple and direct, Padgett's mercurial work offers readers the pleasure of his surprising curiosity and generous spirit.

Author: Ron Padgett
Publisher: Coffee House Press
Published: 11/18/2025
Pages: 1128
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 3.20lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 2.50d
ISBN13: 9781566897433
ISBN10: 1566897432
BISAC Categories:
- Poetry | American | General
- Literary Collections | American | General
- Poetry | Subjects & Themes | General

About the Author
Ron Padgett's How Long was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in poetry, and his Collected Poems won the LA Times Prize for the best poetry book of 2014 and the William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America. He has also received the Shelley Memorial Award and the Frost medal from the Poetry Society of America. His translations include Zone: Selected Poems of Guillaume Apollinaire and Blaise Cendrars's Complete Poems. Seven of his poems were used in Jim Jarmusch's film Paterson. New York City has been his home base since 1960.